


Camp Pinegrove

by Spellbound_Spot_Conlon



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Bi, Camp, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gay, I love camp, I love them all, Lesbian, Lets go hjb!, M/M, Multi, Nail Polish, Pan - Freeform, Romance, SO MUCH FLUFF, Summer Camp, Timothy is super snotty, counselors, grass everywhere, like every single newsie is in this, queer, weird names
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-03-22 13:19:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13765008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spellbound_Spot_Conlon/pseuds/Spellbound_Spot_Conlon
Summary: Every summer, all of the Newsies head off to summer camp at Camp Pinegrove. This year was no different. A summer full of pranks, races, and camp fun awaits them. But some new issues await them as well. Join the journey as these lovely people laugh together, fight together, and fall in love together.





	1. Camp

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everybody! I absolutely love summer camp, and love reading Newsies summer camp AUs. So, I decided to write one myself! I’m sorry if the summary doesn’t sound great, but I promise that there’s so really fantastic stuff coming! I really hope you like it, and thank you for reading if you do!
> 
> Enjoyy!

Race peered out the window as his mother turned onto the tiny dirt road that was the entrance to Camp Pinegrove. Face nearly pressed flat into the glass, he struggled not to bounce in his seat and leap out of the car. Coming to camp was the highlight of his year, every year.

Race had been coming to Camp Pinegrove ever since he was old enough to, which was for as long as he could remember. His parents had thought it would be a good experience for him, and they had been proven correct. You couldn’t stop Race from going back each year if you tried. It was his second home, and each time he came, he stayed the entire summer.

Their car wound down the road, passing the houses where the owners lived when camp was out of session. They pulled into the parking lot, which was really just the grassy field closest to the dining hall, where check-in was being held. His mother stopped the car, and Race was out the door before she could even unbuckle her seatbelt.

He ran around the back of the van to the trunk, pulling on the latch, which was still locked. Race heard his mother sigh as she exited her door at a much slower pace.

“Patience Tonio,” she said with her Italian accent.

Race sighed as well, but said, “Si Mama,” knowing that she was going to miss him over the summer. The least he could do was behave for the last 20 minutes that he saw her. Or, kind of behave. He was Racetrack Higgins after all.

His mother unlatched the trunk, and after he pulled it open, he grabbed his duffel bag, sheets, and sleeping bag from the back. They had just turned towards the dining hall when Race heard someone call his name from behind him.

“Race!”

Turning around, he saw Kid Blink jogging toward him. Face breaking out into a wide grin, he stopped and waited for Blink to catch up with him. His mother smiled and went to greet Blink’s mother.

“So how ya been?” Blink asked as he caught up to Race, slightly out of breath from running with his heavy bag.

“Dude, you just saw me like two weeks ago,” he said, laughing.

“Yeah, but dude,” Blink said, mimicking Race’s tone. “You have two older siblings and four younger siblings. Stuff is bound to happen.”

Race laughed again, and then launched into a story about how his younger sister had hidden pasta in his younger brother’s bed after he beat her at Mario Kart.

The two boys walked towards the field in front of the dining hall, where there was a table set up for check-ins. They could see a long line forming in front of the table and hurried to get in it before it got longer. Race received lots of shouted greetings from familiar faces that ran past.

“Hey Race!”

“How ya doing?”

“Race!”

“Heya Race!”

“Hey Boots!” Race gave him a big grin and mussed up his hair, settling in line right behind him. “What’s going on?”

“Not much,” Boots said, giving his customary tooth filled smile. “Glad to finally be back in the same age group as you guys!”

Race laughed. Boots was two years younger than the rest of them, which meant when they all moved into the high school division, he was left behind in the middle school division. He had never been happy being younger than the rest of them, but that had made it even worse.

“Yeah kid, it’ll be a blast.” Boots rolled his eyes at the term, but continued to smile.

The line had been moving quickly, the counselors having gotten the routine down to a science. Most of the counselors has been working here for as long as the boys had been coming or longer. In other words - a very long time. However, they had gotten stuck on one kid and his mom. It looked like the mom was trying to make sure the counselors knew each and every single thing her child couldn’t eat. The counselors were trying to explain that they had his medical files and understood everything, and if there was ever a problem, they would contact her immediately.

Race snorted. The kid looked really whiny, and like he was old enough to be in the high school division. Race hoped against hope that he was just a really tall eighth grader. The line moved almost normally after that, one dad having to search through his contacts for the name of his daughter’s doctor, and one boy having showed up on the wrong week.

A family had just finished checking in and were heading back down the line to get their bags from where they had left them. Race smiled and called out when he saw who they were. “Hey! Jacobs’!”

The three kids and their parents turned their heads towards his call. They all broke out into smiles when they saw who it was, and the children changed direction to head over to Race.

“We’ll get your bags, okay?” Esther called.

“Okay, thanks Ma,” Davey replied as Sarah gave Race a hug. She flicked one of his dark curls upward and he laughed. David then turned to Race and they grabbed hands, thumping each other on the back. An indignant voice popped up from behind David.

“Hey! What about me?” Race grinned and high-fived Les.

“Hey little dude! You’ve grown!” he said.

“Yep! I’ll be way taller than you soon!” Les said, smiling.

Race groaned. Didn’t he know it. Les was already past Race’s chin, and the kid was four years younger than him. Race was abnormally short for a guy, and he hated being reminded of it.

“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t lord it over me,” Race said, scowling when Davey laughed.

“You wanna fight Jacobs?” he asked, hopping from one foot to the other, aiming mimed punches at David. David mimicked his stance.

“You’re on Higgins,” he said, and Race grimaced. They started moving now, circling each other. Race could see David biting the inside of his cheek, trying not to laugh. He could feel his face flushing under the strain of not laughing as well. Finally, it became too much and he and David doubled over laughing, leaning on each other for support.

Sarah rolled her eyes, but the corners of her mouth tilted upwards at their antics, and Race knew that she was just as glad as they were to be back at camp. “Hey Blink,” she said.

“Hi Sarah!” he said, looking relieved to have ended his previous conversation with Race’s mother. Race knew the feeling. After pulling Sarah into a hug, Blink turned to Race. “Your mother isn’t looking to adopt any kids is she? Because I swear, every time I see her she talks to me like there’s no tomorrow.”

Race grinned. “Nah, she ain’t lookin to adopt you....exactly. She thinks you’re a saint, ‘cause that’s the only side of you she’s ever seen. She thinks that you would be a good influence on me in a relationship. She’s always trying to get me to ask you out.” He laughed at the look on Blink’s face. “I know what you’re thinking. ‘That would never happen! Why, Race, he’s way too far out of my league!’” Race finished dramatically, throwing a hand across his forehead and closing his eyes for emphasis.

Blink snorted. “Yeah hun, that’s what I was thinking.”

Race mocked gasped, opening his eyes and clutching his chest. “How could you be so rude! Is our torrid love affair over already?! But babe! Think about the children! No! Think about the cats!”

“Maybe you should think about moving up in line, seeing as you’re holding it up,” Blink pointed out, and Race saw that it was, in fact, his turn to check-in. His mother was giving him a tight lipped smiling, urging him to move forward.

Race hurried forward to the table, slinging his duffel over his shoulder.

“Mi dispiace, Mama. Dovrei aver prestato attenzione,” he said quietly but brightly as he passed and he saw her eyes and mouth soften, his Italian winning her over, as he knew it would.

“Hello again Race!” said the counselor behind the table cheerfully. “Good to see you back again!”

“Hi Capp!” Race said, beaming. He loved the counselors here, and Cappuccino was always so fun and bright.

“Ok - you’re in Boy’s Cabin 7 with quite a few others. There were lots of sign ups this year, so each cabin is filled to the top! We might have to bring in some cots in some cases.” She handed him a couple of papers, and a couple to his mom as well. “This is just some final paperwork Mrs Higgins, if you don’t mind. Just telling us you are his guardian, signing to say he is allowed to swim and go to the cookouts, etc. And if we could please see your driver’s license as well that’d be fantastic.”

After verifying Mrs Higgins’ license, Cappuccino gave Race the camp T-shirt he had ordered and the other counselor at check-ins, Rigby, made sure his medical files and history were up to date.

Once they were finished, Race stepped out of the line, letting Blink moved forward to get checked-in. He turned towards his mom.

“Well I’m going to go get settled in,” said Race.

“I’ll come with you and help,” she replied, almost immediately, and Race struggled not to raise his eyebrow.

“Mom, I’ve been doing this since second grade,” he said, not unkindly. He knew he had a great mother, and that she loved him very much. He didn’t have to be mean.

“I know honey,” Mrs Higgins said. “But I just- I miss you so much over the summer, and you’re growing up and everything and-“ She shook her head. “Don’t mind me. Go have fun.” And she shooed him away. He gave her a hug and kiss goodbye.

“Goodbye Mama,” he said.

“Goodbye Tonio! Behave! I love you!” she called after him as he walked towards his cabin.

“I love you too,” he called back, twisting around to wave while continuing to walk, before turning towards the cabins again. He felt excitement building in his stomach. This was it - he was finally back at camp, one of his most favorite places in the world.

Stomping up the steps to Cabin 7, he saw the door was already open, and headed straight inside. As he entered, one of the three boys inside looked up. When the boy saw who had entered, his face split into a wide, open mouthed smile.

“Race!” Jack said, rushing to greet him at the door, thumping him on the back from a tight hug. Crutchie’s head shot up at the familiar name, and he smiled brightly as well.

“Hi Race!” he said. Putting down the shirt he was taking out of his suitcase, he hugged Race as well. Race felt like his face was going to crack from the huge grin splitting it in half. All of a sudden, a high, reedy voice came from above him.

“Race? What kind of name is that?”

Looking up, Race saw the tall, whiny kid from check-in and held in a groan. Deciding to be nice, he replied, “It’s the name I like to go by. A nickname, you know? What’s your name?”

“My name is Timothy,” he said haughtily. “And I won’t be called by any nicknames, there’s no point in them. Just a bunch of useless mumbo-jumbo.” And with that, he turned back to his Marvel comic book. Race shot Jack and Crutchie a look. This kid was obviously going to be interesting.

Race crossed the cabin to the back left bunk bed, and swung his duffel onto the bottom. Each cabin was laid out the same, and every single year, Race had taken the bottom bed of the back left bunk. It was tradition. To have any other bed would feel weird and out of place to everyone. Except probably Timothy.

He started unpacking. About a quarter of the way through, Blink showed up and claimed his customary bunk - bottom of the right bunk closest to the door. Not long after, Davey showed up, throwing his bags onto the bed under Jack’s, which was the bunk bed straight to the back of the cabin. Each time someone came in, Jack and Crutchie would greet them, and Timothy would look up disinterestedly.

Digging around at the bottom of his bag, Race pulled out a deck of cards. Shoving the rest of his stuff hurriedly into the drawers on the dresser beside his bed, he raised the cards, grinned widely, and said, “Who’s down for a game of cards?”

Everyone looked up. Then, as one, they glanced at each other, grinned, and ditched their bags at their beds. Race laughed, and they all sat down. His hands flew quickly as he shuffled the cards, motions smooth from years of playing. He dealt the cards just as fast, and they started a game of BS.

“One two.”

“One three.”

“One four.”

“Two fives.”

Race looked over at Jack. He could see the little dip in his lip where he was biting it. He nearly rolled his eyes. Jack sucked at this game. “BS,” he said, smirking. Jack groaned.

“It’s not faaaaaiiiiiirrrrrrr,” he whined, and took the pile.

Crutchie laughed. “Just be glad it wasn’t too big man.”

Jack pouted, and the game continued, Blink getting the pile once, as well as Davey once, and Jack about four more times.

“Two nines.”

“One ten.”

“Three jacks.”

“Dude I don’t even doubt that, with the number of cards you have in your hands,” Blink said to Jack, laughing. Jack glared.

“One queen.” Davey said, laying down a card.

“BS!” Jack said triumphantly, and Davey scowled.

“Man, I hate you and your annoying incapability to be good at this game,” David said, and the rest of the group ‘ooed’ as Jack’s jaw dropped.

“Hey! I’m good at it! I called your bluff didn’t I?” Jack replied indignantly.

“And why was that? Because you have a giant pile from all of the times you failed to bluff correctly and had all four of that card,” David shot back, and Jack‘s mouth opened once more in an indignant attitude, cheeks flushing.

“Well maybe-!”

“Ok!” Crutchie said, clapping his hands twice. “Let’s do something else, yeah?”

They all agreed, Jack and Davey both smiling slightly as they helped clean up the cards, ducking their heads down the tiniest bit. Race just barely contained his snort. Those two couldn’t be more obvious. Shaking his head a little, he finished gathering up the cards as Crutchie and Blink argued about whether they should play charades or taps. Charades eventually won after Timothy said that if anyone hit him with a tennis ball, he would personally make sure they were kicked out of camp. Though they all knew he couldn’t make that happen, they decided to save themselves the trouble. They pulled up a random noun generator on Davey’s phone and started. Crutchie went first.

“Ok, I’m ready,” he said.

He drew his legs in together, crutch propped out to support the weight of his bad leg, and put one hand on the top of his head, fingers facing towards the ceiling. The rest of the boys just stared at him blankly. After a few seconds he huffed, and motioned at himself, before putting his hand back on his head.

“Are you a tree?” Davey asked hesitantly, and Crutchie shook his head.

“Are you a fork?”

“No!”

“Are you a flashlight?”

“What the heck?”

“Hey, it’s valid!”

“Yeah sure.”

“Back on track!”

“Fine.”

“Are you a satellite dish?”

“No!”

“Oh my gosh give us a clue Crutchie.”

“I’m orange.”

They all sat for a while, staring dumbly at him once again. Then, all of a sudden, Blink let out a huff of laughter. “I’ve got it. You’re a carrot.”

“Yes!” Crutchie said excitedly. Jack bust out laughing.

“A carrot?” he asked, choking back tears of laughter.

“Well its was the website that picked it, not me!” Crutchie said defensively.

“Yeah ok,” replied Jack, wiping away his tears. “Blink it’s your turn, since you guessed.”

Blink stood up, and Davey gave him the phone. After clicking the button on the website, he gave it back to Davey. He then started hopping around the room, arms curled in front of him.

“A bunny!” Race shouted. Blink looked ridiculous hopping around the room like that and Race kind of wanted to prolong that, but he wanted to win that round even more. He was quite competitive, see. Blink rolled his eyes, nodding, as everyone roared with mirth.

Race stood up, getting the phone handed to him as he did so. He clicked the generator button, and watched as a word appeared on the page. He read it, blinked, as read again. _Swan_. Rubbing his temple once, ignoring Jack’s snicker, he gave the phone back to David. Moving the open space, he prepared himself.

He stood there for about ten seconds, not really knowing what to do. Race sighed. There was no way he wasn’t going to embarrass himself doing this. He put his hands out to the sides and tried to move them up and down gracefully. From the way Crutchie was hiding his face, it wasn’t working. Race then stood on one leg, the other one out in an arabesque. Jack bust out cackling. David wacked him upside the head. Jack glared at Race, who smirked.

Race kept doing his weird arm movements for another moment, before stopping. They obviously had no clue what he was, and if they did, they weren’t going to say it. They were enjoying this too much. Sighing again, a thought hit him. Weren’t swans the ones that get really mean and crazy when they’re mad? A grin spread slowly across his face.

Race moved backwards two steps, and turned around. Then, after taking a breath, he spun around, leaping across the floor, waving his arms wildly. He made a loud honking noise and continued flapping his arms crazily. The looks on their faces were priceless. Race leapt from side to side making weird goose noises and flapping his arms.

Moving to the center of the room once more, he moved from one foot to another making the same arm movement and noises. The boys were almost rolling on the floor, crying with laughter. He started jumping up and down now, squawking at them. Just as Race did so, he heard the door open, and two purposeful steps being taken into the room.

“Racetrack Higgins.”


	2. Back Together Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody is back together again, but they run into some trouble. Well, more than usual anyways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry it took so long to update, but I have an extracurricular class after school every single day and on Saturdays, homework on top of that, and rehearsals for a musical, so life is crazy! It’s really hard to find time to write, and I always want to put out my best work, so it takes a while! Anyways :D
> 
> Enjoyy!

Race spun around, unbalancing himself in the process. He stumbled forward, almost falling on his face. When he finally had two feet planted firmly on the ground, he looked up.

There stood Spot Conlon, standing in the door frame. His longish dark blonde hair had been shaken back from his face and his beaten red Converse were untied, laces trailing on the ground. His arms were crossed as he leaned against the worn wood, and a smirk was playing across his face as he surveyed Race. Race felt his face flush as the boys behind him started howling with laughter. He felt his lips twitch and he bit them, before giving up and bursting into laughter, as Spot did the same.

Spot straightened himself off of the doorframe and bent down, picking up his duffel bag. Slinging it over his shoulder, he walked farther into the cabin.

“Well, that certainly is one way to start the summer,” Spot said, grabbing Race’s hand and thumping him on the back before fist bumping Davey.

“Did you honestly expect anything less?” Crutchie asked, grinning broadly from the floor.

“Nah,” Spot said, ruffling Crutchie’s hair as he passed him. Blink high-fived him, and Jack stepped forward to receive his fist bump.

“Nope,” Spot said, ducking out of Jack’s path. “You have cooties.” The rest of the cabin as Jack pouted. Spot rolled his eyes as Jack began to stomp around like a baby.

“I guess it’s fine,” sighed Spot dramatically. “I have had my cootie shot.” It was the rest of the cabin’s turn to roll their eyes as Jack stopped stomping around and accepted Spot’s fist bump with a childish smile on his face.

“So,” Spot said, moving over to the bunk bed he always shared with Race and setting his bag down. “Who’s the newbie?”

“Excuse you?” Timothy snootily. He had been watching them ever since Spot had arrived, comic book forgotten in his hands. “I am right here, and I refuse to be talked to and about that way!” Spot raised both his eyebrows at him.

“I’m sorry your Highness,” Spot said, a layer of mockery hidden in his voice. “Would you like me to fluff up your pillows? Or perhaps fetch you a glass of apple juice?” He gave a gallant bow, and the rest of the boys had to turn away to hide their snickers. Apparently satisfied with the bright red hue of Timothy’s face, Spot turned back to his bag, just as the door burst open once more.

Specs stumbled into the room, slightly off-balance with the two cloth suitcases he was carrying, and the Romeo on his back. He unceremoniously flung the bags to the floor and Romeo slid off his back, bounding over to the assembled groups and giving them giant hugs. Specs followed, laughing.

“Man, I am so ready for this summer,” Specs said. “No more waking up at 5 a.m, having actual fun, and no more Mrs. Steinfeld!” The cabin let out cheers at the last one, remembering their batty old history teacher.

“Yeah, its time to get this party started!” Blink said.

“But Blink,” Crutchie responded, smiling wickedly. “Mush isn’t here yet! We can’t start the party without your boyfriend!”

Blink’s face flushed a deep pink. “He’s not my boyfriend!” he exclaimed as the room filled with roaring laughter.

“Yeah Blink, sure he ain’t,” Jack roared. Blink’s mouth gaped silently, his face reddening even further.

“Hey guys,” Mush said, walking through the already cracked open door. “What are we talking about?”

“NOTHING!” Blink nearly shouted. His friends were beyond themselves, stamping their feet and gasping for air. Blink’s face roughly resembled a scarlet flame. Mush stopped on his way to his bed.

“Riiiiight,” he said, putting emphasis on the ‘t’ at the end, eyebrows raised. The attention was thankfully turned away from Blink as Specs tripped over a discarded shoe laying on the floor, falling flat on his face and setting everyone off again.

When the laughter died down and the tears were wiped from their eyes, they set back to work unpacking. Race, who was finished, went to help Romeo unpack his bag. The boys lapsed into friendly banter, catching up on the two weeks they had been apart. There had been two get-togethers during those two weeks, but many boys hadn’t been able to come, families insisting on taking trips before they went off to camp for the summer.

Specs had gone to France for a week, staying in his aunt’s Paris apartment. David had gone to a beach in Maine with his sister and younger brother. Les apparently had gotten stung by a jellyfish, but was now fine. Spot’s neighbor had gotten him tickets to a Yankee’s game. He had even gotten to meet the players after the game. Spot acted nonchalant about the whole thing, but Race could tell how happy he was. Spot loved baseball. Race knew how much it meant to him to get to meet the team, especially since it wasn’t something that happened every day for him.

Blink had gotten stuck at home for two days, watching his younger twin brother and sister. Blink said by the end of it he was about ready to pull his hair out. Jack told the tale of how him, Race, and Spot almost got kicked out of a Michael’s. It entailed them knocking over a paints display and hightailing it to the beading section before someone caught them red handed. Literally. Jack had gotten red paint all over his hands.

They were so wrapped up in their story telling that they didn’t even notice that someone else had walked in. In their defense, the door was already open, so no noise was made. David and Crutchie were the first ones to look up as the voice reached all of their ears.

“Uh, hey guys,” said the voice from the door. Race turned to see who it was, and saw Finch standing there.

“Hey Finch!” Crutchie said, smiling.

“Hey! This is Cabin 7, right?” he asked.

“Yeah, it is,” David replied. “Are you staying in here?”

“Um, yeah, that’s what they told me,” Finch said, scratching nervously behind his ear.

“Cool!” Crutchie said. “There’s only one problem though....”

“We don’t have any more beds,” Specs finished for him.

“Oh, no, yeah, they said they were going to bring a cot in for me,” stated Finch.

“Great!” Davey said brightly. “Well, welcome to Cabin 7!”

“Yeah!” Jack said leaping forward to greet him, right as Spot walked across his path to grab something on the floor. The ensuing situation resulted in one large crash, two loud thumps, and a very high-pitched squeal resounding from Jack. Crutchie cracked up, leading the rest of the Cabin with him, and Finch stood there looking alarmed.

Race walked over to where the two boys had went down. Davey was helping Jack up, rolling his eyes and shoving him towards his bunk. Spot was still on the floor, laying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. Race stood over him, looking down at his friend.

“Need some help up?” he questioned, cracking a smile at Spot’s blank expression.

“I think I’m just going to stay here for a while,” Spot replied looking straight up at Race. Race was about to respond when the door was flung open wider, sending a bright stream of light into the room, and a counselor named Aladdin entered while carrying one end of a folded up bed. Backing in to the room, he took in the sight of the duffel bags and suitcases across the room, and Spot on the floor.

“Spot, what are you already doing on the floor?” he asked exasperatedly.

“Ask Jack,” he replied, not moving from his position on the wooden boards. Race rolled his eyes at Spot’s dramatic state. Although, he would admit, it usually took at least a day before Jack crashed into someone and knock them over. But every time it happened, it was always Spot.

“Alright then,” Aladdin responded. “I don’t think I need to ask.” He continued backing into the room, revealing Chevy holding the other end.

“Hi guys!” she said cheerily, waving to them, and almost dropping her end of the bed. Chevy was a notoriously clumsy counselor. Aladdin glared at her.

“Come on Chevy,” he sighed. “Can’t you make it a few more feet?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t be such a stick in the mud. You’re nothing like your name.”

They stood there, glaring at each other. A voice came up from the floor. “Hey guys, thanks for the bed, but you can leave now.” It was Spot.

Aladdin turned to glare at Spot, mouth opening. Spot raised a hand in a thumbs up, and Aladdin shut his mouth and stormed out.

“Bye guys!” Chevy said cheerfully. Then she too left.

“So it begins again,” Mush said. “Aladdin and Chevy’s famous battles. Hey, will someone help me unfold this thing? Since our counselors were apparently driven off by Spot.” At this, Spot, still on the floor, put his hand straight up in another thumbs up. Blink and Finch helped to unfold the bed, and Finch started unpacking.

Race was glad that Finch was in their cabin. They all knew him well enough from school, but he wasn’t in their close group of friends. Race believed that only after a couple of weeks that would change. Looking around the room, Race counted the people inside.

“We have eleven people in here? That’s a lot. Why don’t they move someone to the other cabin?” Race asked.

“There’s no room,” Davey said. “They’ve got eleven too.” He paused. “Actually, no. They have twelve.”

“Really?!” Race said, surprised.

“Yeah,” Jack said. “Jojo, Albert, Henry, Buttons, Elmer, Boots, Swifty, Bumlets, Skittery, Itey...” he listed, counting them off on his fingers.

“Don’t forget Oscar and Morris,” Davey said, and Race grimaced.

“So does that mean they have a cot in there too?” he questioned.

“Yeah,” responded Spot, who had finally gotten up from the floor, and was digging through his bag that he had put down on Race’s bed. “But that cabin also has a single bed in there from when it was used for elementary school, because a counselor sleeps with the elementary kids.”

Race nodded. Then he remembered something that had been in his bag. He went over to his drawers and grabbed the small package. Heading over to Spot he yelled, “Heads up!” and lobbed the package at him.

By some miracle, Spot actually looked up in time to catch the small object soaring at his face. Race pouted.

Jack laughed. “Dude, how did you know he meant you?”

“I didn’t,” Spot said. “But when Race says ‘heads up,’ you put your head up.”

Race pouted even further. “Open the package stupido.”

Spot snorted. “Fine,” he replied. He unwrapped the object, which was messily wrapped in newspaper, to reveal four pet rocks with yarn hair and googly eyes.

“Well now I’m really glad I looked up,” Spot laughed. “What made you think it was a good idea to throw rocks at me?”

Race rolled his eyes. “They’re from Marco and Felicee idiot.”

“They’re great,” Spot said, smiling.

“Dude, Race’s siblings adore you,” Specs said. “Even his older siblings.”

“I know,” Spot said airily, putting a hand on his hip and pretending to flip his hair. As the cabin laughed, he gave a small, open grin. He grabbed the rocks and put them on top of the drawers that he and Race shared.

“If I put them any other place than a place of honor,” Spot said. “I will have crying children on my hands. And you could say I’m not exactly the best with crying children.”

“Spot, you’re not good with any children,” Jack laughed.

“Yeah, remember that time we were in Walmart and this little girl was lost, so she tugged on your shirt and you nearly threw her at me?” Davey said.

Spot shrugged. “We call you the mom friend for a reason you know,” he said, and David rolled his eyes.

“Guys, look what my sister got me for my birthday!” Romeo said, and pulled out a pride flag from his suitcase.

“Awesome!” Crutchie exclaimed.

“Romeo that’s so cool!” said Finch, and Romeo beamed.

“Thanks guys, I’m so happy I finally have one,” he said, and the boys laughed. Romeo pinned the flag to one end of his bunk bed. “Have we already had the customary card game to start off the year?”

“Well, a couple of us did one because someone got too impatient,” David said, pointedly looking at Race. He just shrugged.

“Hey, I didn’t see you protesting. In fact, I think you eagerly joined,” he replied. “But that doesn’t count as the card game to start off the summer.”

“Well we have to have it at some point,” Romeo said.

“How about after the kickoff campfire?” Mush asked. “That’s when we usually do it right?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Blink said. “Hey Finch, you wanna join?”

Finch looked up. “Really? I’d love too, if I’m not intruding.”

“Of course not,” said Crutchie. “You’re part of the group now!” Finch looked delighted, smiling broadly at them. Suddenly, there was a ruffle of comic book pages, and a disapproving voice hit their ears.

“Is that a pride flag?”

Race looked up. Timothy’s comic book was resting on his lap, still open. The person in question had his eyes fixed on Romeo.

“Uh, yeah,” Romeo replied nervously. Specs, Blink, Mush, and Jack were already glaring at Timothy. Specs was standing behind Romeo, and he reached out and put a steadying hand on Romeo’s shoulder. Timothy sniffed, rustled his book obnoxiously, and raised it back up to read again. Spot, who had been bent over his bag, stiffened. Race saw his fists clench and heard him take a deep breath as he straightened up.

Spinning around, Spot fixed his gaze on Timothy. “You got a problem with that?” Spot said, tone colder than Alaska in mid-winter.

“Well,” Timothy said daintily. “I do, in fact, have a problem with that.”

“Well I’m sorry to tell you bud,” Spot spat. “But there’s at least a good eight more people alone in this cabin that are inclined the same way. And hate to break it to you, but a good half of the camp, if not more, is queer in some way. So if you’re going to cause problems, you can just leave. I think it would please a great many of us.”

“Or,” replied Timothy in a confident, bratty tone. “I can just wait until the janitor comes so he can take out the trash.”

Spot lunged for Timothy. Race and Mush sprung forward to hold him back, Jack and David rushing to join them. It took all four of their combined strength to hold Spot back. Timothy looked terrified, and rightly so. Spot was livid. And Spot was capable of some pretty crazy things, especially when he was angry.

Suddenly, Kayak, who was an waterfront counselor, popped his head in through the door.

“We’re starting high school swim tests, you have to be at the waterfront in your swimsuit in ten minutes,” he said before leaving, apparently not seeing the scuffle going on inside the cabin.

Spot stopped trying to get at Timothy. He stood there glaring at him, before Jack said softly, “Come on Spot.” With one last terrifying stare at Timothy, Spot turned away. Race put a hand on his shoulder, but he shook it off.

The boys changed relatively silently. Specs and Crutchie were comforting Romeo, who was shaken up that his first experience with someone seeing his flag was a bad one. Race could see that Spot’s eyes were cold and hard as they gathered up their bags for the waterfront. After Timothy had changed, he took refuge in a corner, hiding once more behind his comic book.

The ten boys walked out of the cabin into the bright sunlight. The tension that had settled in their group seemed to start to dissipate once they had left the cabin, and Timothy, behind them. They relaxed, enjoying finally being on summer vacation, at a place that they all loved dearly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you hate Timothy say ‘I’!
> 
> ...
> 
> IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> So that was chapter two! I really hope was good and that you liked it! Thanks for reading, and please take a couple of seconds to hit the kudos button and comment!!! It makes my day!!!
> 
> Love you all!! :D
> 
> Instagram @ spellbound_spot_conlon


	3. Of Swimming, Grass, and Nosebleeds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The high school swim tests take a twist for the worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that summary sounds really morbid. I promise it’s not that bad.
> 
> But!! I’m finally posting!!! Like!!! What!!!
> 
> Life has honestly been so insanely crazy lately and I want to put out my best content, so thank you so much for understanding and sticking with this story! I am honestly so excited for what is coming up guys, it’s going to be so great!!!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!!!

The boys headed towards the waterfront, throwing towels and spraying sunscreen at each other. Amidst laughter, they arrived at the water, where the girls were already standing. They set their bags down under the canopy next to the girls’. Race threw his towel at Mush one last time, the boy squealing in surprise as it hit him.

Race laughed, and shot off towards the waterfront, digging his heels into the grass as Kayak looked his way, and continuing at a much more sane pace, as Davey would say. He heard someone behind him, and Spot laughed as he clipped Race’s shoulder as he passed, flashing a smirk over his shoulder.

So that’s how he wanted to play.

Race let a wicked grin spread over his face, walking behind Spot, gradually drawing closer. Reaching out his arm, he flicked Spot on the back of his head. Spot’s head flew around and he and Race locked eyes.

Spot’s face was completely blank, before an evil smirk graced his face. Race had only one thought.

Crap.

With a battlecry, Spot lunged at Race, shoving him towards the waterfront. Race ran towards the water, seeing the girls’ heads turn towards the shrieking. Race yelled, laughing and gasping at the same time.

He shot towards the sandy beach, trying desperately to escape the horror behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see how close Spot was (which was very close), and with his attention taken away from his trajectory, his foot hit a pocket in the uneven grass. He tumbled over, hitting the ground and crashing down the hill, rolling to a stop at the feet of the girls.

Race lay on the ground, eyes closed and happiness swelling in his chest, gasping for air as he choked on his laughs. He opened his eyes, and the sky formed in a dizzying swirl before him. Looking to his right, Race locked eyes with Spot through all of the laughter and gasping, seeing him smiling and laughing and nearly crying, bent over slightly with his hands on his knees holding himself up. Race could feel his face becoming bright red from the lack of air.

Wiping away his own tears that he hadn’t known had formed, Race sat up, looking towards the group that he had basically just crashed into, meeting the disapproving gaze of Kayak. He flinched. Kayak sighed.

“Come on boys, it’s the first day of camp. Don’t start this already,” he said wearily. Kayak was a very kind counselor, and a lot of fun too, but roughhousing and running of the sort that Race and Spot had just done was against the rules, and it was his duty to constantly remind them. It probably got very tiring. Kayak walked away, going to talk to another waterfront counselor, Misty, at the life jacket rack, but always keeping an eye on all of them from a distant. Race let out a noise sounding like a pained whimper, which was a result of trying to keep his laughter in, which sent both him and Spot back into hysterics.

A hand appeared in front of Race’s face, an offer for a help up. He took it, and stood up to face brown eyes filled with mirth, and bouncy red-brown curls.

“Katherine!” he exclaimed.

“Hey Race!” she said, pulling him into a warm hug. “How’ve you been?”

“Pretty good,” he replied. “Probably got quite a few grass burns now, but like, oh well.”

“It’s the price you pay for being Spot’s friend,” she said, faking a disapproving tone and shaking her head slightly.

“Yeah, that and a lot more,” Race quipped.

“Hey, watch yourself Higgins,” replied Spot, one corner of his mouth tilted into a grin.

“You watch yourself Conlon!” Race shot back, knowing this sequence like the back of his hand.

“Why would I do that? I already have you watching me all the time!” Spot replied, full on grinning now, as he delivered the last part of their classic quip.

Katherine smiled. “I can’t even count the number of times you guys have said that,” she said, rolling her eyes as she continued to smile.

“That’s because you can’t count,” Spot shot at her. Race grinned even wider as Katherine pretended to get ice for her burn and Spot bowed dramatically.

Race continued grinning as he surveyed the rest of the girls. He noticed about five of them gathered in a group, whispering something behind their hands and glancing over at where he, Kath, and Spot where standing. He had a sneaking suspicion about what it was about, and was proven correct as one of the girls called out.

“Hey Spot!” she called, waving and smiling brightly. Spot’s head turned to her, and he nodded as a way of returning the greeting, before turning back to Kath and continuing their conversation. Once Spot had turned his back to them, the girls started jumping up and down, squealing. Race struggled to keep in his snicker. If only they knew how gay Spot really was.

They continued talking as the other boys arrived from the canopy, arguing about whether or not Obama still secretly works for the government, and that there are microchip cameras in all of his Hawaiian leis and that he goes there on government missions.

“Ok but you know what we really need to tell you about Kath?” Blink said. “There’s this kid-“ he started, but was cut off by Kayak calling for silence as the other cabin of boys arrived at the water as well.

“Ok campers!” Kayak called, clapping his hands together once. “Welcome back to camp! We can’t wait for you to have an amazing summer at camp, and to attend a lot of water activities-“ at this part Misty elbowed him sharply. “-I mean, um, yeah anyways! We can’t wait to have fun with you at the waterfront, but there are rules! No running-“ he shot Race and Spot a glance at this part, and Spot waved cheerily. “-no swimming in a zone that you are not allowed in, no taking street shoes out on the dock. No flavored drink packets in water bottles, no taking any unauthorized objects in the water, and you must, I repeat MUST, have a buddy with you at all times.” He moved over to a board with rows of small hooks on it.

“This is the buddy board,” he said. “You will each be given a tag. When you are not in the water, you put it on the side facing the canopy, the side we are standing on right now. When you cross this line,” he said, toeing the line that separated the grass from the sand and the beach down to the water. “You must flip your tag to the other side of the board. It doesn’t matter if you are just going to go get goggles that you left on the dock. You have to flip your tag, and you have to bring a buddy. Does everyone understand?” When everyone nodded yes, he nodded, and let Misty continue.

“So each time you get in the water, you will find a buddy before we go in. You will line up in a buddy line next to your buddy, and you will be given a number for buddy checks. When it’s time for buddy checks, you will count off. You must be standing next to your buddy, so it would be a wise idea to find a buddy that is in the same swim level as you. You may have a swim buddy in another level, but understand that you have to be with each other at all times, meaning that you will have to swim in the lower level.”

“Now, for the swim test you will be assigned red, yellow, or green. Red means that you have to stay in the two to three foot area. Yellow means that you can go in the four to five foot area, in addition to the two to three foot area. Green means that you can go anywhere in the designated area, including the up to six foot area,” Kayak said. “Your levels also decide what watercraft you are allowed to use when we go out into the lake. If you are red, you can only use a canoe. If you are yellow, you can use a canoe or kayak. If you are green, you can use a canoe, kayak, or paddle board,” Kayak finished. “Now, I think we’ve bored you enough, let’s get you your tags, and hopefully Tic-Tac will show up during that time so that we can do the actual swim tests.”

“Ok everyone, line up! One in front of me and one in front of Kayak,” Misty called, clapping her hands once. The campers scrambled to get into two lines, and Race ended up in Kayak’s line, behind Jack, Romeo, Elmer, and a couple girls that he recognized as Janie and Maureen from years past.

The lines moved quickly, the counselors taking a circular tag, writing the name of the camper, and handing it back to them. As Race got up to the front of the line, Kayak had his Sharpie poised over the tag.

“The usual I assume?” Kayak asked.

“Of course,” replied Race.

“Hey, you never know. I could write Anthony on here,” he suggested jokingly.

“No,” Race responded vehemently, and Kayak laughed.

“Your poor mother,” Kayak said as he wrote. “Son doesn’t even like a perfectly good name.”

“You’re one to talk, _Thompson_ ,” Race whispered, and Kayak winced.

“The curse of having a camper coming for years on end,” he said, sighing. “They remember the names.” He paused. “What is this now? The seventh time I’ve given you a buddy tag?”

“Ninth,” Race said matter of factly. Kayak shook his head.

“Wow, you’re going to be a counselor soon enough!” he said in disbelief, before shooing Race away to keep the line going.

Race walked over to where his group of friends were standing, just as Tic-Tac came power walking down the steep hill to the waterfront. The campers started laughing, and began hooping and hollering at her. She waved her hand at them, shooing away all of their calls.

“Yeah, yeah I know I’m late,” she said, walking the last few feet over to the gathered campers and counselors, still waving her hand at them. Race grinned.

“But that speed walking though!” he said, raising his hands up to eye level and giving a golf clap. “At least you know how to follow rules, unlike SPOT who RUNS,” he called pointedly over to Spot, turning his head to face Spot. Spot, who was currently having his tag being created by Misty, looked up and snorted.

“You’re the one who tripped on a piece of grass and crashed down a hill,” he said, causing outbursts of laughter from all assembled. Race grinned. Kayak, having just finished a buddy tag, stood up and blew his whistle once to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright, that’s the last tag!” he announced. “Let’s get in a buddy line!” Everyone scrambled once more to find a buddy and make two parallel lines. Race grabbed David’s arm and pulled him into the line. David pretended to pout and rubbed his arm where Race had grabbed it. Race rolled his eyes.

They began to count off, Davey and Race ending up as pair number 13. Once they got to pair number 19, they headed around the back of the buddy board and put their tags on the other side. At the end of the beach, there were two wooden docks, which were both about thirty feet long with about fifty feet of water between them. There were ropes separating it into sections, and a rope at the very end of the two docks, connecting them. Kayak motioned to the area.

“This area, from dock to dock and to the end of the docks, is what you have available to you to swim in. There is a rope at the end of both of the docks that connects them. You can not go past this rope.” he said. “You should all know this by now, because I recognize almost every single face in this group. If you are red, you swim in the first section. If you are yellow, you can swim in the first two sections. If you are green, you can swim in any of the sections, but that does not mean you can leave the swim area and go out into the open lake. We don’t do this to ruin your fun, but to keep you safe. It is extremely dangerous to have someone swimming in a place where they are not fully capable, or to have someone be in the open lake. When I blow my whistle once, it means that I am trying to get your attention, so stop what you are doing and turn to look at your lifeguard if they do this. If I blow my whistle twice, it means it’s time for buddy checks. Get next to your buddy, who should currently be in the same section as you and very close, and be prepared to call your number and raise your hands when it comes to you. If I blow my whistle three times, I don’t care what you are doing, it means get out of the water immediately. No dunking your head under one more time, or swimming across the pool the other way, or diving to get something you dropped. Get to the closest ladder or part of the dock and get out. I’m not saying this to scare you, but you have to be aware. Three whistle blows means that there is an immediate emergency and we need everyone out of the water.”

“So here’s how the swim test is going to work,” Tic-Tac said. “Although you all probably know already. Each of you, in groups of four, are going to swim across the yellow section two times, or to the other side and back once. You must do this without touching the ground or hanging on the docks, all you must do is touch the dock on both of the sides. After this, you will go into the green section. You have to be able to pass the first part and then tread water for three minutes. Now,” she continued. “Here is the part that the rising ninth graders won’t know about, because it wasn’t available in middle or elementary school. If you want to be able to go sailing during water activity times, then you must tread water for five minutes.”

“Let’s get started,” Kayak said. “First four campers.”

“Conlon, get up here,” Misty said. It was no secret that Spot was her favorite camper, just like it was no secret that Mush was Ticonderoga’s favorite camper.

“Are you really making me go first?” he asked, but jumped into the lake all the same. Albert, Janie, and another girl named Lilith joined him in the water.

“Ok,” Kayak said. “You can go.”

The four high schoolers shot across the water, having done this many times before. Race watched Spot as his arms cut through the water smoothly, pushing him ahead of the other campers quickly. It was no wonder that he was Misty’s favorite. He was a short, skinny stick, but he was easily the best swimmer out of them all, goodness knows how. Once they reached the other dock, the campers touched the dock and pushed off the other way. Once all four of them had gotten back to the dock that everyone was standing at, Kayak instructed them to swim under the rope into the green section, and started his timer for three minutes. Misty started the next group of four, which consisted of Jack, Katherine, Elmer, and Meg, in the yellow section as the others treaded water.

As they swam across the yellow section, the three minutes for the campers treading water passed. Albert, Janie, and Lilith got out of the water, but Spot just smirked at Kayak and kept treading. Kayak rolled his eyes and put another two minutes on the clock.

The swim tests kept moving the same way, going quickly seeing as they were high schoolers and almost all knew how to swim, and the counselors once again had it down to a science. Race was in the fourth group, swimming with Jojo, Boots, and Danielle. He passed the first part easily, then swam under the rope to tread water.

The swim tests went without a hitch. That is, until it was Timothy’s turn to swim. He was taking the test along with Sydni, Skittery, and Bumlets. As they got in the water, Timothy already looked extremely out of his depth. He looked like he was trying to touch the water as little as possible, which was impossible, seeing as it completely surrounded him. When Kayak said go, the other campers took off. Timothy tried to swim forward, and he kind of succeeded, but with much flailing of arms and kicking wildly with his legs. By the time the other swimmers touched the other dock, he was about a quarter of the way through the first stretch. When Sydni, Skittery, and Bumlets we’re halfway back to the first dock, Timothy was halfway to the opposite dock.

Sydni was swimming quickly and calmly, unaware that Timothy had drifted out of his side of the lake lane. He was still flailing his arms and kicking his legs wildly, and as she passed him, one of his legs shot out, landing right on her face. Sydni’s head flew back, and for a second she went under. Kayak blew his whistle once. She came back up a moment later, clutching her face. Bumlets and Skittery caught up to her and surrounded her, making sure she was okay, looking concerned. Bumlets moved her hand away from her face, and everyone back at the dock could see the unmistakable bright red liquid covering her hand and lower face.

Skittery and Bumlets helped lead her to the dock and use the ladder to get out. After they got to the dock, the counselors took over, checking for any breaks in her nose and trying to stop the bleeding. The treaders had gotten out of the water, but Timothy stood where he had last been, looking horrified.

“We need two people to bring her to the infirmary,” Kayak said.

“I’ll go,” Bumlets and Skittery both said immediately, and Kayak nodded.

“Go ahead, we’ll finish your swim tests later,” he said, and Bumlets and Skittery started to lead Sydni, who was clutching a pile of tissues to her nose, up the dock.

“I know she and Skittery are cousins,” Race said, leaning over to David. “But are she and Bumlets close?” he asked, and David nodded.

“They’re good friends,” he replied. “She lives in Rhode Island while he obviously lives in New York, but they keep in touch all year long.” Race nodded, thinking it was cool that camp could bring people together like that.

Kayak turned back to the water, where Timothy was still standing, looking shell-shocked. Kayak sighed. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be swimming Timothy.”

“That’s alright,” Timothy replied in a small voice. “I don’t like swimming much.” He climbed on to the dock, and walked over to the back of the group of campers, standing behind them awkwardly. Race felt bad for him for a moment, before remembering what had happened in the cabin. Not wanting to think about any of that, he pushed all of the thoughts away and turned back to the water.

The rest of the swim test went smoothly, with only Timothy failing and Sniper being resigned to the yellow section because of her asthma. Crutchie didn’t swim test, like usual. His leg couldn’t handle the kicking that swimming or even being in the water required. Every year he would sit on the dock, talking to the boys as they flung water at him. Crutchie pretended to be fine with it, but Race knew that he was anything but. Crutchie wanted nothing more than to swim with his friends, or to go sailing or kayaking. It made Race’s heart hurt to think about it. So he tried to make the best of it for him each year, to bring just one more smile to Crutchie’s face than the year before. A true smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the newest installment of Camp Pinegrove!
> 
> Jk
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was really fun to write because the ideas just kept flowing. I hope it was good and not too boring! If you could take a couple more seconds out of your day to click the kudos button and/or comment, then that would mean the absolute world to me!!!
> 
> Thank you so much!!
> 
> See you next time!!! (hopefully very soon)
> 
> :D <3 :D <3 :D <3


	4. Jokes and Running from Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sydni is just trying to get her nose to stop bleeding. Bumlets might not be the best person to help that happen. David, Race, Spot, and Blink try to escape the terror known as Jack Kelly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I’m actually updating again in like a week! Aren’t you proud of me??
> 
> Anyways
> 
> I’m going to be a CIT at my favorite camp this summer!!! I don’t know if I get to have a camp name or not sooooo....feel free to comment some. Preferably theatre related (for anyone who doesn’t know, a CIT is a Counselor in Training :D).
> 
> Enjoyy the chapter!!!

Bumlets walked back through the door in the infirmary into the room where Sydni was sitting. Her nose was still bleeding, and the nurse had just given him some ice to give to her. She accepted the bag with a word of thanks, and he sat down into the chair next to her.

“Where’d Skittery go?” he asked, noticing the absence of the rowdy teenager.

“To get me a popsicle,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Goodness knows how he thinks that’s going to help.”

“It won’t,” Bumlets said. “He probably just wants to go so he can steal one for himself.” She laughed, then winced as the movement jerked her nose around. Bumlets scrunched up his nose.

“Sorry,” he said guiltily. Sydni rolled her eyes.

“Oh please,” she said. “I could use a good laugh right now. My first day back to camp and I get a bruised and bloody nose.” After a pause she said, “Tell me some jokes.”

“Won’t that hurt though?” Bumlets asked cautiously. “If you move your nose...”

She looked at him. “Don’t give yourself too much credit. You’re not that funny.” With a grin, Bumlets started a joke.

“Okay, what’s the best thing about Switzerland?” he asked.

“I don’t know, what?” Sydni replied, shrugging.

“I don’t know, but the flag is a big plus!” Bumlets replied jubilantly, smiling as she shook her head with a small grin.

“Okay, okay, here’s another one,” he said “Did you hear about the mathematician who’s afraid of negative numbers?”

“No....” she said, a grin forming on her face. “What about him?”

“He’ll stop at nothing to avoid them!” exclaimed Bumlets, and Sydni let out a laugh.

“That was pretty good,” she said. “Keep going.”

“Sure,” replied Bumlets, thinking. “Here we go,” he said, remembering one. “Why do we tell actors to break a leg?”

“Why?” she asked, trying to hide her grin behind her ice.

“Because every play has a cast!” said Bumlets. He could see Sydni’s face becoming red from her struggle of holding her laughter in. He kept going.

“Where are average things manufactured?” Bumlets said. Sydni shrugged, unwilling to let Bumlets break her. “The satisfactory!” he exclaimed.

“Did you hear about the actor who fell through the floorboards?” he questioned. Sydni shook her head, biting her lip hard as to not giggle. “He was just going through a stage.”

That was it for Sydni. She bust out laughing, her face bright red, and Bumlets started laughing then too, laughing at her laugh, and the more they kept looking at each other the harder they laughed, until they were so loud that they attracted the nurse.

“Dominic, if you cannot keep quiet, you will have to leave. Sydni is here to get better, not get hurt again, and I have other work to do as well,” she said, not unkindly, before walking away once more. After she had left the room, Bumlets grimaced.

“What?” Sydni asked. “Oh, your name.”

Bumlets scrunched up his nose. “I don’t like it, you know that.”

“Yeah I know,” she said. “I like it.”

“And I like your name Sydni, but you don’t,” he replied. “So here we are.”

She sighed. “Touché.” She leaned around him to look out the window. “Where is Skittery?”

“Probably trying to sniff out more snacks to steal,” Bumlets said. Sydni turned back to him and gave him a fake glare.

“Was that a targeted joke Mr. Dominic?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“What? No-oh!” he said, realizing that she was talking about her nose.

She tilted her head back haughtily, then thought better as a bunch of blood rushed backwards.

“Look at that Mr. Dominic. All of the pain you have caused me,” she said. “Maybe I should go call the nurse.” But Bumlets had other concerns.

“You better not keep calling me Dominic, Sydni,” he warned.

“Oh really? And what will you do if I don’t?” she said, raising both of her eyebrows from behind her ice.

Bumlets raised an eyebrow of his own. “Are you sure you want to find out?” he asked.

“Go ahead, _Dominic_. You can’t do anything too bad to me,” she challenged. Bumlets grinned, and her eyebrows remained up in a silent challenge. He lunged for her stomach, tickling and poking, and she let out a shriek. He kept tickling her as she writhed around in her chair.

“Stop!” she nearly screamed, slapping at his arms and hands with the one hand not holding her ice. “Stop tickling me-!” Her words word cut off with another shriek of laughter as Bumlets continued his merciless attack.

“I’ll only stop,” he said. “If you agree that I’m the funniest person you know!”

“Never!” she yelled, trying to pry one of his hands off her stomach and keep it off by holding it up in the air with her one free hand.

“Fine!” Bumlets said. “I guess this-“ he freed his captured hand and jabbed her stomach, and she let out a strangled laugh. “-isn’t going to stop anytime soon!”

Somehow through all of this, they still hadn’t attracted the attention of the counselor who was the nurse, which was fine by Bumlets. Sydni’s face gradually grew redder and redder from the exertion of laughing so hard.

“Fine!” she finally yelled. “I’ll say it!”

“Then say it!” Bumlets said, laughing hard as well.

“You- you are very funny!” she squeaked out.

“That is not what I told you to say!” Bumlets laughed, increasing the strength of his attack. He moved his face closer to hers. “Say it!”

“You-stop it!-you are the funniest person I’ve met today!” she managed to gasp out.

Bumlets’ mouth fell open in incredulity, still laughing. “Still incorrect!” he said, moving closer to her still.

“You-!” she started, but stopped when she realized how close their faces were. The ice slowly lowered away from her face, and Bumlets had the realization that he had stopped tickling her, but had no memory of doing so. He felt separate from the rest of the world, feeling his heart beat in his chest, and his breaths come out in slow pants as he watched her bright blue eyes, only a couple inches away. It almost seemed that time had stopped, waiting on them.

Then in an instant, it was shattered.

Skittery burst through the door, holding three popsicles. Bumlets and Sydni sprang apart, and Sydni lifted the ice back up to her nose, effectively hiding her red face behind it. Bumlets sat back in his chair, tapping his foot slightly and drumming his fingers lightly on the arm of the chair. Skittery apparently hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, and threw Bumlets two of the popsicles. He caught them and handed one to Sydni, who took it despite her earlier skepticism of her cousin.

They ate their popsicles while talking about the new kid, Timothy, and what trouble he had already caused.

“I heard that he was making some, let’s see, choice comments in Cabin 7 today,” Bumlets said. “Apparently after Romeo hung up his pride flag.” Sydni, whose nose had stopped bleeding finally, made a face.

“Seriously?” she said. “I don’t really care that he kicked me in the face - I mean I do, who wants to be kicked in the face? - but I’m not going to be mad about it or anything. It could happen to anyone, and it’s an honest mistake, especially if you don’t really know how to swim. But that?” she shook her head. “That’s just bad.” Bumlets and Skittery nodded in agreement. Skittery looked down at his empty popsicle stick, seeing as he had just finished it.

“Hey guys, do you want to hear a joke?” he asked. Bumlets and Sydni looked at each other, biting their tongues to try to stop from cracking up. After a couple of seconds, they couldn’t help it.

They lost it.

***

Back at the waterfront, the high schoolers had signed up for their water activity of choice, and were given an hour of free swim. David was in the green section with Race, Spot, and Blink, floating around and trying to avoid Jack’s mad rampage around the lake.

“What did you guys sign up for?” David asked the rest of them.

“Paddle board,” Race said.

“Kayaking,” Blink replied. David grinned.

“Did Mush by any chance sign up for kayaking as well?” he asked. “And are you guys, by any random chance, going to volunteer to take the tandem kayak?”

Blink’s face grew bright pink in a matter of seconds. “Shut up David,” he said, and sank under the water. Reappearing a few moments later, Blink’s face was still a pale shade of pink. David gave him a smile, then turned to Spot.

“What about you?” he asked.

Spot took his time answering, dipping his hair back in the water and floating on his back. When he finally responded, he simply said, “Same thing I do every year Davey.”

“Sailing,” Blink, Race, and David all said at once. Spot tilted his upper body backward even farther in the water and did an underwater backflip of sorts to get upright in the water. He glanced to the side briefly and nearly swore.

“Jack’s coming our way,” he said. The boys eyes widened, and they all ducked underwater and shot off to the yellow section, swimming as fast as they could. They reappeared on the other side of the rope, a little ways off, looking back at the green section. Jack was wandering around, appearing not to know or understand where they had gone. Spot laughed and stepped backwards, almost crashing into a figure behind him. Smalls jumped out of the way to avoid being sent under.

“Hey Spot,” she said. “Please don’t smoosh me. Mom and Dad probably wouldn’t be very pleased.”

“How can he smoosh you?” Race asked, laughing. “He’s abnormally short for a guy.”

“And I’m abnormally short for a girl,” Smalls replied, which was true. She was in tenth grade, but she was still 4’10”, hence her nickname.

“And who are you to talk?” Spot asked Race. “You’re even shorter than me!”

“And I’m taller than you all,” David interjected, and Spot rolled his eyes and clapped slowly.

“Oh yes, very good David,” he said. “You can see height.”

Sniper let out a laugh. “David next to Smalls makes him literally look like a giant.”

“I’ve always aspired to be one of those,” David replied. Smalls poked Spot.

“May I have a piggyback ride?” she asked. “Please?”

Spot rolled his eyes, but bent down so that she could get on his back. “The things I do for you.”

“You love me.” Smalls’ voice was fading slightly as they walked away across the yellow section. Spot replied something, but at that point he was too far away to hear. The others watched them go, silent and smiling slightly, before Sniper spoke up.

“Aren’t we supposed to be with them?” she asked. “Because we’re their buddies?” She paused. “Wait, who is Spot’s buddy?”

Blink swore. “That’s me,” he said. They looked over to where Spot was laughing after apparently having ducked underwater with Smalls still on his back. She was hanging on to his shoulders, looking surprised at the sudden dunk, before busting out in laughter too.

Sniper turned to him. “So does that mean I get a piggyback ride too?” she said sweetly.

“Why don’t _you_ give _me_ a piggyback ride?” Blink retorted. Sniper’s face went deadpan.

“Do these noodle arms look like they could hold you up?” she asked, and Blink laughed.

“Alright, get on shorty,” he said, bending down, and Sniper got on his back. They charged, or sort of charged - they were in water after all - over to where Spot and Smalls where. David saw Smalls tap Spot’s shoulder, gesturing to the incoming threat. Spot motioned at Smalls, and she bent her head down to hear him as he whispered in her ear. In a second, they charged back at Blink and Sniper, and David and Race heard Sniper shriek as she realized that they were be charged back at. She was poking Blink and yelling through her laughter, trying to get him to stop running, but he just yelled a distant sounding “Never!” and kept charging. With multiple shrieks, the two pairs crashed together, sending Smalls and Sniper flying off the shoulders of the boys.

Just then, the whistle blew. David froze, thinking that they were about to be yelled at, but the whistle gave two blasts, and the counselors yelled, “Buddy Check!” and started counting down from ten.

David and Race linked hands and prepared to shout out their number. Blink and Spot were still trying to subtly poke each other instead of linking hands, while Smalls jumped into Sniper’s arms bridal style.

“12!” David heard echo across the lake from the green section.

“13!” David and Race yelled, raising their linked hands up high out of the water, the extreme height difference making it interesting. David saw Jack’s head fly around as he heard his friends voices, and snickered as Jack’s jaw dropped as he realized that the people he had been searching for had been deliberately evading him. Race waved at Jack cheerily, and Jack glared.

“Poor guy,” Race said, turning to David. “He’ll never learn.”

“17!”

David and Race both turned around as the number was shouted out, sounding slightly strangled. Blink’s and Spot’s poking war had escalated to shoving each other when the counselors weren’t looking, and it almost made them miss their number.

“18!” Katherine and Sarah called.

“19!” Smalls and Sniper sung out, and Sniper spun in a circle, causing Smalls to spin dramatically around, dragging her feet in the water.

“Okay!” Tic-Tac yelled. “Free swim is over! Get out of the water and dry off up at the canopy!”

The high schoolers got out of the water, dripping wet, and walked up the hill away from the waterfront after flipping their tags. David shook his wet hair out of his face, accidentally sprinkling the people around him with water.

“Sorry,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter dummy,” Sarah said from his left. “We’re already wet.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s pleasant to be hit with water from someone’s hair,” he retorted.

“Children, children. Calm down,” Katherine said mildly. David grinned and gave her a side hug.

“Hey Kath, how’ve you been?” he asked.

“Perrrttyy good,” she said. “Pulitzer didn’t restrict me too much. By which I mean he locked me in my bedroom, which I’ve known fourteen different ways to get out of since I was six years old.”

David laughed. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” he said simply.

“Exactly!” she said, grinning back at him. Just then, they heard a shout coming up the hill.

“David Jacobs!”

The three of them turned their heads around, and David swore when he saw who it was. He took off up the hill, leaving Sarah and Katherine laughing behind him.

“David- David whatever your middle name is Jacobs!”

David laughed, still sprinting up the hill to escape the insane Jack Kelly behind him.

“David Morgan Jacobs!” Jack yelled, still pounding up the slope behind him. David snorted.

“Where did you get that?” he yelled over his shoulder.

“David Maximillian Jacobs!” Jack tried again.

“Nope!” David shouted, popping the ‘p’.

“David Jebidiah Jacobs!”

“What the heck?!” David yelled incredulously, laughing. He made it up the hill to the canopy and immediately crawled under the table. “Put the backpacks in front of me and make sure you can’t see me,” he whispered urgently.

Everybody stood there for a minute, looking at each other, before Spot said, “You heard the man, cover him.”

Everyone mobilized, shoving backpacks onto the benches and under them, blocking David from sight. David popped his head out from under the table and hissed at Spot, “You might want to get under here as well.”

“Why?” Spot asked, before turning his head to the side and seeing Jack. “Oh sh-“

He slid under the table as if he was sliding into home base, and David heard the laughs of everyone assembled. “Impressive,” he whispered, and Spot grinned, holding a finger to his mouth to motion to David to stay quiet.

David clutched the bright magenta backpack in front of him, trying to be as silent as possible. He heard the thuds of Jack’s footsteps as he reached the canopy.

“Haha David Jacobs! Sarah told me your middle name - it’s Elijah!” he heard Jack exclaim. David struggled to keep in a snort. That wasn’t his middle name. They heard Jack stop, confused, as he realized David wasn’t in the canopy.

“Did you see David?” they heard Jack’s voice ask, and they heard a girl named Brooke answer in the negative.

“Oh, ok,” Jack responded, and Spot and David clamped their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing, and therefore exposing their position. They heard more footsteps coming up the slope, and a bright, cheery voice coming with it.

“You f-“ the voice coughed. “Um, fabulous! You fabulous people miss me?” Everyone laughed at his slip up, as well as his save. Spot turned to David, eyes widening.

“Race,” he mouthed at him, and David’s eyes widened as well. They peered out from a crack in the backpack armor, and saw Jack turned to Race. Race’s eyes landed on Jack, and he said one word.

“Crap.”

“Racetrack Higgins,” Jack said lowly. Race put his hands up at shoulder level.

“Jacky Boy!” he said cheerily, but David could see his eyes darting around, looking for an escape.

“You weren’t trying to hide from me earlier, were you?” asked Jack.

“Of course not!” Race said, making a pssht sound afterwards. Jack just looked at him. Race scratched the base of his neck. “Okay, so maaaaayyyybe, I was tryyyyyying, to, um-“

“Kelly!” a voice shouted up the hill, sounding like Albert’s. As Jack got distracted, Race ducked behind him and slid head first under the table, crashing right into David’s lap.

“Oh, hi guys,” he said. “Hiding from Jack?”

“You know it,” David whispered, then put a finger to his lips. The three of them squished together under the table, looking out from the crack in the backpacks. They saw Jack turn around, looking for Race. He stopped, looking extremely bewildered at the absence of the boy, before his eyes landed on all of the backpacks stacked around the table.

“They’re under the table aren’t they,” he said quietly. Spot started shoving at David.

“Go, go, go!” he whisper screamed. Race, David, and Spot scrambled out from under the table, and took off across the grass, hearing a certain Jack Kelly running after them.

“We have to outrun him!” David yelled.

“No,” Spot yelled over his shoulder. “I just have to outrun one of you!” And he took off running even faster, powering ahead of Race and David as their mouths dropped open in shock. Race and David glanced at each other at the same moment, realizing that it was a battle between the two of them. All of a sudden, they heard the footsteps of their pursuer stop. A yell followed this sudden stop, and Race and David, still running, looked over their shoulders.

Jack held Blink in a head lock. Blink looked very confused and a tad bit annoyed.

“Oh sure,” they heard Blink bite out sarcastically. “Go for the half blind guy.”

“All’s fair in love and war!” Jack said cheerily, happy that he had finally caught someone.

“What love?” Blink asked, trying to pry Jack’s arm off of his neck. “The secret love between you and your pillow?”

The calls of the counselors stopped Jack from having to come up with a reply to Blink. Race and David sighed with relief, glad that they hadn’t had to betray each other to the merciless rage that had been pursuing them.

Okay, so maybe they were exaggerating a little bit.

As they neared the canopy to get their bags, they saw Spot standing with his bag slung over one shoulder, smirking. Race’s mouth dropped open.

“How did you get back here?!” he called.

“It’s called going in a circle Race!” Spot yelled back. Race rolled his eyes.

“Traitor!” he called back to Spot, cupping his hands around his mouth, and Spot blew them a kiss.

David slung his backpack over his shoulder, laughing at Race’s pout, and joined the rest of the campers as they headed to their cabins once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t think they are ever going to stop breaking rules let’s be honest here.
> 
> Also, I guess we’ll never know what David’s middle name is!
> 
> It would mean the world to me if you took a couple seconds to click the little kudos button and comment!! Also plez halp, I need camp names for mai self, preferably theatre related.
> 
> Until next time! (or in the comments section because I pretty usually answer them...eventually)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! It would mean the world to me if you would take a couple of seconds to click the little kudos button or leave feedback in the comments! They honestly brighten my day so much!
> 
> Thanks again!


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